Shameful: Pakistan’s ruling party, PTI tweets a clip from an NDTV show to further its Kashmir agenda

In what can only be described as a shameful and condemnable development, the ruling party in Pakistan, PTI has tweeted a video clip of Sreenivasan Jain’s NDTV show ‘The Reality Check’, in order to pursue its anti-India agenda. In this video clip, a reporter, apparently reporting from Srinagar says that he, along with his team, met an old, blind man who spoke about the current situation in Kashmir. As per the reporter’s version, the old man said, “New Delhi is saying everybody in Kashmir is happy about making Jammu and Kashmir a UT. Let them lift the curfew and they will know how happy we are”.

Sharing the video clip on its official handle, PTI tweeted, “For all those in New Delhi living in the delusion that Kashmir is happy over the scrapping of Article 370, union of J&K territory, an old Kashmiri has a msg:

“Lift the curfew for a day and we’ll let them know how happy we [Kashmiris] are”. Can Modi do that?”

Therefore, using this video clip, the PTI tried to push through its anti-India agenda over the Kashmir issue. Curiously, the blind, old man mentioned by the reporter during the aforementioned NDTV show is nowhere to be seen in the video. The reporter only mentions what the old man had supposedly said. The entire show titled “Kashmiri view: Silenced by fear” seemed like an exercise in propaganda against PM Narendra Modi. The 25-minutes long show started off with anchor Sreenivasan Jain indulging in fear mongering and quoting characters that the NDTV journalist could somehow not get on camera. Jain also goes on to claim that a nameless journalist is reluctant to speak up about Kashmir because his family is in Kashmir.

Following this fear-mongering show by NDTV and PTI’s tweet, NDTV came in for severe criticism. A Twitter user, shard a snap of the PTI’s tweet sharing NDTV’s video. The Twitter user said, “Pakistan using Congress and NDTV to target India is nothing new. Don’t forget even Terrorist Hafeez Saeed praised the two for the same.” Facing relentless criticism and outrage on social media after PTI shared the above said video on its Twitter handle, NDTV did tweet a clarification.

In its clarification, NDTV has tweeted, “NDTV strongly condemns attempts by Pakistan to distort Indian media  coverage by maliciously editing together different excerpts and taking quotes out of context and distorting them.” It has added, “NDTV and all its journalists believe Kashmir is an integral part of India and as such is India’s internal matter. All our reports will continue to represent the view of every Indian without fear or bias of any kind.”

However, the damage was done and this clarification does not seem to have helped NDTV in soothing the social media outrage. What is particularly embarrassing for the news channel is that in the reply section to this clarificatory tweet, a national of Pakistan tweeted, “Bundle of Thanks NDTV for Showing real face of India to the World.” Along with his tweet, he has shared an even longer video clip of the same show. In this video, Sreenivasan Jain can be heard asking if videos of NSA Ajit Doval interacting with Kashmiri locals is just a publicity stunt to which the reporter replies in affirmative. In this video, the reporter can also be heard saying that those who stood against militancy and separatism say that they have lost their narrative.

Tweeting a clarification, therefore has not really helped NDTV in silencing a raging controversy on twitter. The news channel has once again come under severe criticism for once again finding love and praise from the establishment in Pakistan. Former NDTV journalist Barkha Dutt had once gone as far as justifying the Kashmiri pandit genocide in the Kashmir valley and her reporting during Kargil war turned out lethal for Indian soldiers. The list of such reporting by NDTV is endless and therefore its clarification tweet is hollow.